A New Fall Memory
by rocks n bugs
Summary: Tony needs something to do, so he helps Gibbs get ready for his dad's  visit. Can they get past their memories? Can they keep their mutual attraction  to each other hidden, working in such close proximity?


**A/N: I hope this is how to post A/N's. This is my first fanfic ever, so please be gentle! I also crave feedback, so please let me know what you think!**

**This turned out to be way less smuttier than I thought, but never fear...I'm working on a sequel!**

**Beta by the FABULOUS SplishySplash...this was her first Tibbs fic, so be gentle on her too!**

**I hope you enjoy!**

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><p>They had three days off.<p>

It was the first three day weekend they'd had in months. Lately, most of their weekends had even been consumed with cases and they all sorely needed the downtime. Jackson Gibbs was coming to DC to spend the weekend with his son and was expected to arrive around lunch time on Friday; so Leroy Jethro Gibbs had the morning to get the a few things done around the house.

Gibbs had arrived home late that evening, after stopping at the store to stock up on food and beer. He really didn't want his dad to know he ate 90 percent of his meals by takeout, imagining the lecture he'd get about his eating habits. He had gotten everything unloaded from his car and was standing in the kitchen putting groceries away, when his phone rang. Hands full, he answered it without even looking at the caller ID.

"Yeah, Gibbs," He answered tersely.

"Hey Boss," was Tony's upbeat reply.

"Everything Ok?" Gibbs asked, unsure why Tony would be calling unless something was wrong. He'd talked to Tony on his way to the store and had left him with a 'see ya Monday.'

"Everything's fine Boss," Tony hesitated as if he was about to ask him a question and then he said apprehensively, "Do you have any plans for the weekend, Boss?"

"Dad's coming for the weekend," he answered while putting the beer in the fridge.

"Oh," sighed Tony's defeated reply. At that, Gibbs paused from putting away groceries to lean against the counter.

"Why, what's going on DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, concerned starting to tinge his voice.

"Nah, don't worry about it. Just looking for something to do is all," disappointment was apparent in his voice.

"What about the plans you had?" Gibbs questioned.

"Didn't work out." Gibbs could picture the pouty look on Tony's face. He suspected Tony had either made plans to hang out with a frat brother or two or he had a date. Gibbs hadn't asked, he wasn't sure he wanted to know, but he felt bad every time he heard about Tony's plans getting canceled. Gibbs didn't mind spending time alone, but he knew Tony craved attention and sometimes didn't get as much as he needed in his personal life.

"Got some things to do around the house before Dad gets here, could use a hand," Gibbs suggested.

"Sure you don't mind?" Tony asked almost shyly. "I'd hate to be in the way."

"Nope, would get more done with an extra set of hands," Gibbs answered.

"What time you want me there?" some of the confidence returning to Tony's voice.

"Wanna get started in the morning, but whenever you get here is fine. See ya tomorrow Tony," and he abruptly hung up, as usual.

Gibbs finished putting up all the groceries, wondering what plans Tony had that had fallen through. It seemed like that had been happening a lot since he'd come off his last undercover assignment. He knew Tony needed time to adjust when he came off a secret op. Tony always seemed vulnerable when he tried to pick up his life where he'd left off. He needed extra reassurance that things hadn't changed while he'd been off the grid, especially with Gibbs. Tony knew the second he saw Gibbs at the hospital that his boss was pissed. Gibbs understood Tony couldn't or wouldn't tell him about the op, but that didn't mean he wasn't pissed anyway. How in the hell was he supposed to have Tony's back when he didn't even know what the hell Tony was involved in? Gibbs couldn't stand the feeling of not being in control when Tony was on an undercover assignment and when part of Tony's case came out in the open Gibbs was thankful he was at least partially involved.

Gibbs spent the rest of the evening in the basement working on plans to make a couple of chairs to put out on his back deck. The ones out there now were years old and were becoming loose and rickety. He'd taken a look at them and discovered it would be just as easy to make new ones as to reinforce and re-drill screws into the old ones. He yawned a few times around midnight, before deciding to go to bed. He fell asleep thinking about the things he needed to get done tomorrow.

Gibbs sat at his kitchen table dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, enjoying his second cup of coffee when his phone rang. He knew who it was before he checked the caller ID. He'd slept reasonably well and had been able to enjoy his coffee at his own pace this morning, so with a leisurely "Yeah, Gibbs," he answered the phone.

"Morning boss," Tony's still sleepy morning voice answered. "Is everything okay there Boss?"

"Why wouldn't it be DiNozzo?" he mused with a hint of a smile in his voice.

"You sound relaxed." Tony paused, "Who are you and what have you done with my boss?"

They both chuckled simultaneously. "Seriously, where's the famous Leroy Jethro Gibbs, second B is for bastard?" Tony asked again.

"Got time off DiNozzo, decided to let the second B sleep in. You still coming over?" He didn't mind letting Tony see his less gruff side, but he didn't want to do it over the phone.

"Yeah Boss, on my way. Have you eaten yet? Do you want me to pick something up for you?"

"You bring breakfast, I'll take care of lunch," Gibbs said, abruptly ending the call. He poured himself another cup of coffee, set the hazelnut creamer and an insulated travel mug out on the counter for Tony to see when he fixed his coffee and sat down to finish reading the paper.

Tony's timing was impeccable, Gibbs had just finished reading the paper and was refilling his coffee when Tony's trademark 'Hey Boss' echoed through the empty house. Gibbs responded back with a nod as he topped off his mug. He poured the last cup into Tony's mug and started brewing a fresh pot as Tony sat the food on the table. He then turned to fix his own cup of coffee.

"You got hazelnut creamer? You really do love me," he said dramatically, putting his hands on his chest.

"Get over here and eat or that will be the last time I get you hazelnut creamer DiNozzo," Gibbs gruffed. If he'd been standing any closer to Tony, there would have definitely been a head slap, there still might be, he thought.

"Yes Boss," Tony hastily sat at the table with his coffee.

They ate their breakfast wraps in comfortable silence. Gibbs quiet by nature, and Tony not sure if Gibbs was caffeinated enough to tolerate his ramblings yet. When they'd finished, Tony stood, picked up their trash and threw it away in the kitchen.

"So what's the game plan, Boss?" Tony asked rubbing his hands together signaling that he was ready to get moving.

"You know, when we're not working you don't have to call me Boss," Gibbs chided gently as he stood at the coffee pot to refill his mug. He turned to Tony and held up the pot, the younger man pulled the lid off his mug and placed it on the counter by Gibbs.

"Habit, Gibbs," Tony shrugged and picked up his mug when it was filled. He dumped some more sugar and creamer in it and leaned back against the counter and asked again, "So what do you want me to do?"

Gibbs told him he'd hoped to get all the leaves in the yard raked and bagged before his dad got there. He knew if it wasn't done before Jack arrived, he'd insist on helping to get it finished. Gibbs didn't want his dad to spend the weekend working; he wanted to give his dad a chance to relax. If he insisted on doing something constructive though, they could always go pick up the wood Gibbs would need for the new deck chairs.

Tony followed Gibbs outside; they both grabbed a rake and began on different sides of the yard. The weather was chilly but they were both dressed warmly, in jeans, t-shirts and hooded sweatshirts. They worked quietly on their own, until Gibbs heard Tony cough. His head turned in Tony's direction and he barked across the yard, "DiNozzo, take a break."

"I'm fine Boss," Tony replied over his shoulder and continued to rake.

"Wasn't a question DiNozzo." Gibbs ordered as he pointed to the deck. "Go sit down."

Tony leaned his rake against the side of the house and sat down at the table by their coffee mugs. He watched Gibbs for several minutes, watching him so intently focused on raking the leaves into a pile. It was mesmerizing the way he methodically reached out and pulled the rake back toward him, time after time after time, the pace steady, the strokes smooth. Tony's eyes drifted off the rake and he took in the man holding it. The bottom of his sweatshirt hit the middle of his ass and when he reached out to place the rake on the ground the fabric pulled tight from top to bottom and his jeans tightened across his ass. Tony lost track of time watching Gibbs arms pull the leaves toward him and his backside when the shirt and jeans pulled taut.

Suddenly, Gibbs stopped and turned toward him. Tony was pulled out of his reverie at the stop of the fluid motions and his eyes moved up to Gibbs face. The expression on the older man's face was something Tony hadn't seen before. Gibbs raised his eyebrows as he looked over at Tony expectantly but also looked faintly amused. Tony was caught off guard because of where his thoughts had been and he actually felt the heat creep up his face and across his cheeks. He looked at Gibbs with something akin to horror the same instant Gibbs chuckled and said, "Don't think I've ever seen that look before DiNozzo, at least not directed at me." Gibbs walked over to the deck and sat down at the picnic table across from the younger man. He took a long drink from his coffee mug then set it down on the table, both hands still wrapped around it.

"How you feelin'?" Gibbs asked, concern laced in his voice.

Tony looked away, not wanting the older man to see the emotion in his eyes; Tony was silent while he got his embarrassment under control. "I'm fine, Boss. Really. It was just a random cough, hasn't happened again," Tony replied slightly exasperated.

He couldn't believe Gibbs still freaked out every time he coughed. He knew after all these years just how far he could push his plague scarred lungs. This little bit of activity wasn't going to hurt him and he wished Gibbs could understand that if something as mundane as raking leaves was going to aggravate his lungs Tony had no business still being a field agent. Tony had managed his respiratory issues with no problems, well as long as one didn't consider the whole saving Maddie and Gibbs thing or the many foot chases that always seemed to end up with Tony rolling around on the ground trying to restrain a perp, but those were more exceptions to the rule so he didn't think they counted. But anyway, he got so frustrated when Gibbs got all worried over a cough.

"Tony," Gibbs looked like something serious was on his mind, Tony really hoped it wasn't his damn lungs. "Stop calling me Boss. We're off duty and you're sitting in my backyard," he stated firmly.

"Wow," Tony looked around with a puzzled look. "Deja vu," he shook his head. "It feels like we've already had this conversation."

"Yeah, but you haven't stopped calling me Boss yet." Gibbs loved to hear Tony say his name, it rolled off his tongue almost reverently and the tone of voice he used always hinted at a bit of seductiveness.

"Don't know if I can," Tony said honestly. "If I start to think of you as Gibbs or worse yet Jethro outside of the job, I'm afraid I'd slip up at work and stop treating you like the Boss. That doesn't make any sense, let me try again," he said, stopping the rambling as he rubbed his hand down his face. He couldn't believe he was having this conversation with Gibbs, who had just caught him staring at, no ogling at his ass a few minutes ago. That in itself should have gotten him banned from Gibbs' house for life, but surprisingly, Gibbs had let it go. Probably a good thing, Tony thought; a really good thing. He had no idea how he'd have explained that.

He sighed and started again, "You see, I think of you as Boss and I treat you like my boss, If I started thinking of you as Gibbs though, well then I'd be worried I'd slip up and stop treating you like the boss at work. I'd constantly be worried if I was talking to you as my boss or my friend and I'd hate to stop acting like you're in charge. Was that any better?" Tony finished and looked expectantly at the older man still not sure he was getting his point across. Why was he so damn tongue tied all of a sudden?

"Yeah, you don't want people to think you don't respect me as your boss, and if you were calling me Gibbs or even Jethro and being, well..." he paused, "friendly, I can see how people might think that. Makes sense DiNozzo, I get it."

"Besides, if people were to think we were friends, might hurt your 'second B for Bastard' image," Tony chuckled.

There was more to it, Tony thought, but Gibbs definitely didn't need to know. If he started thinking of Gibbs as anything other than his boss, he might let his true feelings for the older man show. Tony knew that had disaster written all over it, so he spent every minute he was with Gibbs working to keep the mask that hid it in place.

"Need a refill Boss?" Tony asked, standing up and reaching his hand out for Gibbs coffee cup. Gibbs wordlessly handed him his mug.

Tony returned a few minutes later with two steaming mugs of coffee and placed them on the table. Gibbs took a drink and headed back over to the pile of leaves he'd been raking. A minute later, he called out, "Tony, breaks over. Give me a hand." Tony walked over and Gibbs handed him a large trash bag.

Tony held the bag open as Gibbs placed leaves in it and Tony began to speak wistfully, "I used to love playing in the leaves. The groundskeeper Enrique would rake the leaves into piles and before he bagged them he'd let me play in them. Marta, she was our housekeeper, and some of the other staff would go out with me and we'd play for hours. That's my favorite fall memory and by the time we were finished, the leaves were scattered all over the yard again. We'd throw leaves at each other and they'd bury me in a pile; I think they had as much fun as I did. One day, Dad got home before Enrique could rake all the leaves back up and he had a fit. Enrique explained I'd been playing, and it was no hassle for him to rake them back up. Dad didn't want to hear any of it though, and put a stop to me playing in the leaves after that."

Tony had that faraway look in his eyes he often got when he had memories of his childhood. Gibbs had been lost in his own memories of a weekend he'd spent with Kelly and Shannon, playing pretty much the same games Tony had played. When Tony's silence permeated his memory, he leaned the rake against a tree and leaned down for an armful of leaves. He had no idea why he was doing this, but he did enjoy DiNozzo's company and the thought of them spending the rest of the morning trapped in their own memories didn't seem like a good idea to Gibbs. He enjoyed Tony's smile and had an idea that might put a smile back on his face.

Gibbs looked over at Tony, and with a smirk softly said, "Hey, Tony." Tony pulled out of his reverie and glanced over at Gibbs. Gibbs didn't give him a second to react, he threw the leaves in Tony's direction and took off across the yard to the pile Tony had raked earlier.

Tony stood stunned for a few seconds at the older man's actions, but then declared war loudly as he took off behind Gibbs.

Gibbs had barely enough time to get behind one of the large trees before Tony overtook him. With the tree between them, Tony quickly ran over and grabbed a handful of leaves. He faked right around the tree, knowing Gibbs would think he would go left. It was the oldest play in any book, but Tony didn't go left either. He faked to his left, threw the leaves around the right side of the tree at Gibbs, before running back to the pile for more leaves.

Gibbs was too competitive to let that go and just as quickly as Tony ran back to the pile, Gibbs was there too. They stood there throwing and kicking leaves back and forth at each other, laughing and huffing breaths, until Gibbs moved in, grabbed Tony's arm and swiped his legs out from under him. Tony hit the ground, but Gibbs grasp on his arm keeping him from falling too hard. Gibbs, now panting harder, straddled Tony as they fell and asked, "You OK?" Tony was fine, just surprised at Gibbs sudden move. Instead of answering he took advantage of Gibbs catching his breath to make his move.

He grabbed Gibbs upper arms and forcefully sat up, pushing Gibbs back on the ground at the same time. Now Tony was on top of Gibbs, laughing and between deep breaths wickedly said, "Yeah, I'm good, you?" Gibbs chuckled and laid there on his back looking up at Tony, both men taking a minute to get their breathing back to normal. Tony leaned back on his heels, enjoying the feel of Gibbs solid thighs under him, a wide, easy grin plastered on his face. Gibbs looking equally relaxed stared up into those spell-binding green eyes.

'Damn', he thought, 'it should be a crime to look that sexy without even trying.' He willed himself to close his eyes and shake off the desire to pull the younger man to him. If he didn't get Tony off him soon, he was afraid he'd lose control and do just that. Instead, he shook his head a couple of times to get rid of those feelings. A smirk replaced the smile and Gibbs quickly reached an arm out and flung leaves in Tony's face. He came up, pushed Tony off him and the next few minutes were spent once again laughing as they rolled around in the leaves pinning each other and fighting for dominance. Both men were lost in the moment, a few minutes turned much longer as neither one could stand the other to have the last move.

Finally, their playful struggles came to an end as Tony's laughter and heavy breathing turned into a fitful coughing spell. "Damn," he said sitting up. "That was quite a workout Boss." He sat with one arm propped up on a knee and hung his head as he tried to get out the coughs while trying to catch his breath.

"Are you OK, Tony?" Gibbs demanded and was immediately crawling over to him. He grabbed Tony's chin when he got to Tony's side and turned his head so he could see Tony's face. Tony looked into those concerned blue eyes. It always amazed him when Gibbs looked at him that way, the worry and care was so intense it made him shiver.

Gibbs mistook the shiver for cold and wrapped an arm around Tony and briskly rubbed his hand up and down Tony's arm trying to warm him. "Boss, I am fine. Just got a little winded." he looked at Gibbs and smiled.

Gibbs, the worry still heavy in his eyes said, "We should get inside, you're cold."

"Not cold, Boss," he replied matter-of-factly.

"But you're shivering," Gibbs replied hastily.

"It's not from the cold, Boss." He looked up at Gibbs, honesty in the green eyes that met blue. "I'm OK, Gibbs. Really, I'll be fine once I catch my breath." Their eyes held, neither wanting to break away. Tony, suddenly feeling a bit vulnerable was the first to break the contact. "We need a break anyway," Tony chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess we do," Gibbs hadn't missed that Tony didn't call him Boss, his breath hitched as his name rolled off Tony's lips. Then Tony had lightened the moment, Gibbs wasn't sure if he was grateful for that or not. The older man looked out over the yard and was shocked. The leaves were strewn back in the yard as if they'd never been raked into piles. The pile they were sitting in was the only one that even remotely resembled a pile. He shook his head and laughed. He looked down at Tony, who was now sprawled out on his back in the leaves. His eyes were closed and he had one hand resting on his stomach. Tony had stopped coughing and his breathing, although still a little heavy, had returned almost to normal. Gibbs allowed his eyes to travel down Tony's body, lingering above his belt at the hand resting on his stomach. He knew Tony had been checking him out earlier when he caught the younger man staring, and felt no qualms about taking his turn now that Tony's eyes were closed.

His eyes moved further, to just below his belt. He wasn't sure how long his eyes stayed there, taking in the way the zipper of Tony's jeans curved over him, the denim resting gently against parts of Tony Gibbs longed to see. Damn, he did it again he thought. He slowly moved his gaze back up Tony's body to his face and was stunned to see those deep green eyes staring at him in amusement.

Tony grabbed Gibbs arm and pulled him down on top of him. "See something you like, Jethro?" Tony whispered huskily, all amusement now gone from his eyes, replaced with the same look he'd had when he'd been staring at him earlier.

"Yeah," Gibbs replied, "but I..."

Before Gibbs could finish, Tony put a finger to his lips. "It was a yes or no question, now isn't the time to get all conversational on me." He green eyes' sparkling with mischief, his tone light. "I wasn't asking for anything else, not now."

Tony could see a mixture of emotions playing across his face and in his eyes before Gibbs got control of them all. Gibbs looked a little hesitant and unsure, and Tony didn't want those emotions to get a hold of him. He didn't want Gibbs to feel like he wasn't in control of what he was feeling. Now that Tony was sure Gibbs was attracted to him, he could give Gibbs all the time and space that he needed. Tony could subtly control the situation as he just did, until Gibbs was confident about what he was feeling. When Gibbs was ready to take control of their relationship or whatever this turned out to be, Tony would gladly hand it over.

Until then, he would handle Gibbs the way he always did, with a gentle nudge or subtle suggestion in the right direction. Tony let go of Gibbs and looked into his beautiful blue eyes and summed up what he had been thinking, that he was willing to wait for him. "Just this, right now. Like this, that's all." The words 'for now' unspoken, but written all over the younger man's handsome face.

And before either of them could even think of anything else to say or do, the back door opened and Jack's voice boomed, "Are you out here, Leroy?"


End file.
